During the next few days we'll bring you a series of short stories on the different ways people celebrate Thanksgiving in Washtenaw County. We start off by focusing on international students at Eastern Michigan University, who will not be going home for the holiday.
Over 600 international students at EMU will not be going home for the break. So, the Office for International Students and Scholars already hosted a Thanksgiving dinner on campus. GeeticaInampudi from India was among nearly 200 people who attended.
"This is my first time eating turkey here because back in hometown we don’t have turkey. So I ate first time, maybe last year. So that’s my first time. So you can taste turkey."
Esther Gunel is the Director of the Office for International Students and Scholars. She says that while Thanksgiving is an American holiday, celebrations, in general, are universal.
"We talk to many students. They say that, 'Well in our country we have something. We don’t call it Thanksgiving, but we have the same thing to celebrate family.' Get together because of the, in the good old days, because of the harvest."
The Swoop's Student Food Pantry at Eastern will also provide 50 Thanksgiving baskets to students in need. Tomorrow, we'll tell you about a restaurant in Ann Arbor that will serve a vegan Thanksgiving feast.
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— Jorge Avellan is a reporter for 89.1 WEMU News. Contact him at 734.487.3363 or email him javellan@emich.edu
